Ring in the New Year - in style

If I was hosting a New Years Eve party at my house this year, I'd be taking inspiration from the amazing people at In The Now Weddings. I saw this shoot posted over on Green Wedding Shoes this morning and couldn't help but post it myself. Those fantastic colours, the wonderful decorations, the ideas!

How great that they took traditional NYE party ideas and gave them a cool, modern twist. I'm in lurv.......

Happy New Year to everyone, I hope 2010 brings you joy, laughter, happiness and success.

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Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all readers, I hope you get what you want from Santa and that you have a lovely NYE celebrating the coming 2010 year. I only hope that it brings you bigger and better things and that your lives are filled with joy and happiness througout the entire 12 months.

Love from me, my man and little old Diesel who would only pose in front of the Christmas tree if I had food in my hand (if only he'd moved his head a little to the right it would have covered up the electricty switch in the background. Oh well, you can never work properly with animals can you)......

Enjoy your holidays wherever you are.

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Little elephants

I couldn't help posting this today - a special one for my friend Miss S and her nieces first birthday. I don't know if the party has happened yet or not but if not, your Sis might get some inspiration from these beautiful photos! (Miss S, please send some photos of the event!)

I discovered these this morning on Head Of the Table and am totally in love with this blog. I could look at photos of table settings and party themes all day. Another great one for party inspiration is Party Perfect. Some fantastic ideas for kids and adults alike. These two are definately going in the favourites list. I also know a few friends who have some wee ones first birthdays in the coming months that will no doubt drool over these blogs! Enjoy everyone.

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It's (finally) beginning to look a lot like Christmas

While it may have taken a bit longer than usual, it's finally beginning to look (and feel) like Christmas in my home. I managed to get to Ikea earlier today and low and behold, I came back with some bargain Chrissy decorations and oddly named furniture that my man had to put together.

To make our little house a bit more festive, I managed to pick up a gorgeous wreath in the Christmas decoration section - on sale for just $9.99! Being only a week before Christmas, all their decorations and trees were marked down and I've been looking for a non-traditikonal wreath for years. I simply added a little red ribbon to jazz it up and I'm so in love with it, I'm wondering how long I will be able to leave it on the front door for before my man tells me to take it down.

Left: Ikea Kotte Wreath, Right: Hanging on our door

We have 3 spare rooms in our house - one for the guest bed, one for the weights bench which never gets used and one for my desk and the ironing. I've longed for a beautiful home office for years and am slowly getting close to it. I may not have everything matching exactly just yet but I know one day I will. I picked up a very reasonably priced bookshelf whilst at Ikea and now have all my paper, ribbons and magazines off the floor where the dog enjoys putting little claw holes in everything.

Now if only I could get the place to look something like this, I'd be the happiest woman in the world! (don't you just love the wallpaper?)

After watching my man get a blister thanks to the bookshelf assembly, I re-organised the office room and sat down to read a few blogs. If you haven't checked out Parcel Post yet, you are missing out. I found out that this particular blog is the work of a lovely young couple who own a store in Venice, California called Urbanic. And I tell you, this is my DREAM shop. All that stunning paper and stationery, bookshelves full of ribbon and gifts and invitations..... lord I would go nuts in a place like this. If I had the money, I'd be out scouring Brisbane for a shop front to fill with things just like the products at Urbanic right now. I think I'm going to start buying lotto tickets - first on my list would be travelling to Venice to check these guys out, then back home (maybe via New York, Paris, Greece) to set up my own shop....... Ahhhh, one can dream can't they?

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Blogs worth checking out: Magnolia Gray + more

Weeeellll, it didn't take me long. I've had my computer back for less than 24 hours and I've already found things to post about.

It's unfortunately 4.26am Saturday 19th December. Yes, I'm awake and posting. For some reason, I woke up at roughly 3am this morning (actually, I know the reason and it had everything to do with my bloke throwing his arm over me in his sleep but unfortunately not in a "I even want to cuddle you while I'm asleep" kind of way). Once awake, I started thinking of a million things and couldn't get back to sleep: Why can't I find plain white gift tags for my christmas presents anywhere? Am I going to have to make them myself? I really want to go to Ikea tomorrow but I know I will end up spending money we don't have and my man will kill me (I wonder if I showed him my list whether he'd allow me to go and promise not to get anything more than what's on the list). What am I going to wear to a friends BBQ this afternoon? Why did I drink so much wine last night (wait - I think I know the answer to that one). I wonder what my dog thinks of me sitting in an almost pitch black room in front of the computer at 3am?

And the list goes on...... I'm sure you can now see why I got up.

Anywho, I'm babbling so I shall get on with it. I realised after doing some general web browsing that it's been about 8 months since I started this blog and in all that time, I can't remember dedicating a post to a cute blog by some close friends of mine. So belated it may be but ladies and gentlemen, here is Magnolia Gray!

Ok, so I'm sure I've mentioned it before and there is a link over there ----> to their site but I can't seem to remember doing a "Blogs worth checking out" on them. The two lovely ladies who are Magnolia Gray are Merrin & Courtney. I went to school with Merrin and Courtney is her soon to be sister in law. And I tell you, these two have such an eye for great things, it kills me.

Since I've got so much time on my hands of late, I went to visit Merrin and her little baby Evie yesterday afternoon and as always, had to stop myself from admiring everything in her house and not paying attention to our conversation. After looking at their blog and their wonderful assortment of hand made gifts, baby clothes and more, you'll see why I enjoy visiting Merrin and checking out her house so much.

They sell their items to friends and family but also at the Powerhouse Markets. Back in October they invited a bunch of people around to drool (and purchase) their items and I tell you, I was in heaven. They make everything from decorated rompers and baby singlets to hand painted artwork and gift cards. I got myself a cute bird image frame but can't seem to find my picture of it right now (I shall post one later though).

I'm not sure how frequently they attend the markets these days (Merrin/Court, if you're reading this, please let everyone know!) but be sure to check out their blog and contact them if you want to purchase any of their items (I believe they are working on a website so I'll post about that when it goes live).

Another reason for my early morning post this morning is gift tags. A few weeks back I decided to can christmas cards completely. While I love getting and giving cards (and enjoy making my own) when it comes to christmas cards, I just can't get excited about them. You have to think of a million different things to say to each family member, they read it and tell you how lovely it is then put it in the pile with all the others while they attack their gift. So to a) avoid buying or making cards that will only get thrown out after a few months and b) help save some trees by not buying/making them, I decided that the best way to personalise each present while still allowing me some space to write a small sentiment was to use gift tags (sorry ozone layer - I will need some paper for this).

The problem with this idea though? They are not easy to find ready made. Which normally is fine by me, I would rather make my own. However, what I've been searching for for almost 2 months is plain white, blank pre-cut gift tags that I can personalise with my own images, stamps, text etc. Can I find them anywhere though? No. And it's slowly driving me insane (hence I'm up at 4am writing this....).

I have found some at a local newsagent but they are that lovely shade of cream - you know, manilla folder cream and unfortunately that colour just doesn't go with my christmas tree nor my christmas presents (my decorations are red, blue and white and I match all my wrapping paper and ribbon to the tree decorations).

One of my many reasons for wanting to visit Ikea is there is every chance they have some in other colours - apparently Courtney managed to pick some up from there (thanks for the tip Merrin!) so I'm desperate to get down there and find them. Failing that, I know I'm going to have to make my own.

While this isn't a hard task (draw the shape, print, cut, personalise), I do like ready made ones with the little punched hole and cute die cut shapes. Plus anything that requires me to cut non straight lines makes me shiver, I'm hopeless at getting cut edges to look professional.

And so my search continues. Should anyone know where I can find some blank gift tags (other than ebay or etsy as it's a bit late for delivery so close to christmas) I'd love to hear from you! If my search brings up nothing, I shall document my attempt at making them and endeavour to post all about it in the coming weeks.

Since it's now 5am and I'm ready for cuppa number 2, I shall bid you farewell and only hope that you're not up reading this as I hit post.....

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Where have we been?

Yes, it's been a while readers.

I'd firstly like to apologise for the lack of posts in recent weeks (or by now, it's probably months). Due to some unforseen circumstances, things in my personal life have changed and I just haven't been able to spend much time searching the net and finding interesting things to write about.

I do hope that this will change though and whilst I have some time off I will be able to post a little more for you all. I've been without a computer for almost 2 weeks so now that I'm back online, I feel back in the land of the living and shall endeavour to update you on all things design+style (I had every intention of doing some special Christmas posts but alas, the world had other ideas for me).

Secondly, we have a winner in our Westfield Gift Card competition! We have randomly selected (and by randomly, I mean everyone's name went into a Tiffany's box and I had my man pick one out with his eyes shut) and one lucky person will in the coming weeks be the happy owner of a $50 Westfield Gift Card.

Congratulations to Miss J Cook! I'll be getting in touch with you soon via email to get your address details.

And lastly, a big thank you to YOU, the readers for coming back and checking out my blog this year. While I may not have a cult following (I'm certainly no Satoriliast) I love finding things to post about and only hope that you all enjoy reading them.

A very Merry Christmas to you and all the best for 2010. I hope it brings much joy and success for you all and your friends and family.

Till next time....
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